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NEWS & PREVIEWS THREE CHOIRS FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2026 PROGRAMME ADOBE STOCK Gloucester Cathedral's refurbished organ is central to the 2026 programme THE THREE CHOIRS FESTIVAL WILL return to Gloucester from 25 July to 1 August. This year's programme celebrates Elgar's enduring legacy, champions living composers and signals a landmark moment for Gloucester Cathedral's refurbished and renewed organ. The organ, refurbished by Nicholson & Co, will be central to the 2026 Festival. At once the oldest and newest in the country, the instrument will take centre stage in Poulenc's Organ Concerto, Janáček's Glagolitic Mass, and features in the Celebrity Organ Recital by Thomas Ospital. A dedicated talk, "The Gloucester Organ: A New Era,' will explore the story behind this project. In the 75th year of the Elgar Society, audiences can hear some of the composer's best-loved works, including his 1st Symphony, Sea Pictures, Cockaigne and The Dream of Gerontius. The programme also features a special lecture and the launch of a new book, "The Importance of Elgar, with essays by over 60 composers, conductors, performers, and commentators, including Gloucester Artistic Director Adrian Partington and musicologist Christopher Morley. The Festival will also continue its commitment to living composers. Gloucesterborn Gavin Higgins, the Festival's inaugural Associate Composer, will premiere a new setting of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, sung by the Three Cathedral Choirs and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Works by Cecilia McDowall, Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Judith Weir will also be featured. Large-scale choral-orchestral evening concerts will include Mozart's Requiem, Beethoven's Mass in C, Monteverdi's Vespers, and Rachmaninov's Vespers. These are performed by the Festival's own choirs - the combined Three Cathedral Choirs, Festival Chorus and Youth Choir - alongside visiting choirs and ensembles, La Serenissima and Ex Cathedra, Sydney's Philharmonia Choirs as well as resident orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra. Internationally celebrated artists including Roderick Williams, Ian Bostridge, Mark Padmore, Charles Owen, VOCES8, and APOLLO5 will appear in chamber recitals and late-night concerts. Choir & Organ is delighted to continue its media partnership with the festival. Joshua Simões wins the 2026 Musicians' Company Award for Organists The Musicians' Company Award for Organists has announced that their 2026 winner is Joshua Simões, who receives a £6,000 grant to develop his career. A jury, comprised of Senior Warden Carl Jackson, David Titterington, David Hill and Catherine Dienes-Williams, selected Simões from seven shortlisted candidates who performed during a live audition for the panel. Organist and Assistant Director of Music at His Majesty's Chapel Royal, Hampton Court, Simões graduated from the Royal Academy of Music where he won the coveted DipRAM, as a student of David Titterington and Bine Bryndorf. Simões performs internationally as both a soloist and accompanist and his debut album on the Delphian label received a five star review from Choir & Organ and was an Editors' Choice in Gramophone Magazine. GRAHAM LACDAO 6 CHOIR & ORGAN SUMMER 2026 choirandorgan.com
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MAGDALEN COLLEGE CHOIR TO ADMIT GIRL CHORISTERS FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE its founding in 1480, Magdalen College Choir, Oxford, will open to girl choristers from September 2027. The choir, best known for its tradition of singing on the top of Magdalen Tower at dawn on May Morning, has until now only included boy choristers from Magdalen College School alongside adult clerks. Some adult female clerks have been admitted to the choir in recent years. The change comes with Magdalen College School's planned transition to co-educational from 2027. The school considers this decision as the best way to integrate girls into the musical life of the Chapel and will extend choristerships on an equal basis to both girls and boys aged between 8 and 13. To allow for this development, the college will expand the number of chorister positions from 16 to 18. Speaking of these changes, president of the college, Dinah Rose KC, said: 'From 2027, Magdalen College Choir will be open to all talented young singers, regardless of their sex or the financial means of their family.' Mark Williams, Informator Choristarum (director of music) and organist at the College said that they had been impressed by the introduction of girl choristers at similar institutions such as St John's College, Cambridge, and the College has received advice and support from colleagues across the choral world' in making this decision. PARISH CHOIRS RECEIVE FUNDING FROM THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF CHURCH MUSIC MORE THAN 200 CHURCH CHOIRS, aimed at inspiring a new generation of children and young people to explore faith through singing choral music, are to be launched. The Church of England will invest £400,000 in The Choir Project, to be run in partnership with the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM). It hopes to engage children and young people with their local church choirs amid renewed interest in sacred church music. Currently, 57 per cent of local church choirs don't have any children in them. The Choir Project hopes to spark a revival of local parish choir membership, drawing on research that suggests young people are more likely to remain active in faith communities when they are given meaningful roles, intergenerational relationships and opportunities for leadership. The three-year plan will see the training of 300 new leaders and engagement of 500 volunteers to tutor the choirs, and includes training for clergy, ordinands and music leaders, tailored parish support, advocacy and communications and monitoring and learning. The RSCM hopes to engage 2,400 young people as new active Christians. IN BRIEF The Royal College of Organists has reported record-breaking participation across its 'Play the Organ Year 2025'. The programme provided 3,500 individual playing opportunities for beginners and seasoned performers alike, with 10,000 people attending nearly 150 events. Nico Muhly has taken up a post as the first Composer in Residence at Christ Church, University of Oxford. The launch of this collaboration coincides with the Cathedral Choir's 500th anniversary celebrations. The first commission - With Harte and Hande, a carol based on the 16th York Mystery Play, 'Herod and the Magi' - was heard this January during a service for Epiphany. Washington National Cathedral appoints new Director of Music Washington National Cathedral has appointed Dr Jared Johnson as its new Director of Music and Canon-Elect. Previously of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Columbia (SC), Dr Johnson will assume the post in summer 2026. Johnson succeeds British conductor Michael McCarthy, who departed the Cathedral in September 2024 after a 21-year tenure. Music has since been led by Tim Sheehan as Cathedral Organist & Interim Director of Music. An Ohio native with degrees from Oberlin College and Yale, Johnson has toured regularly as an organist and guest conductor. Of the appointment, he said: 'The Cathedral has inspired me throughout my career - from attending my first Evensong as a student, to bringing my choirs for visits, and later sharing its majesty with my own children as pilgrims. It is a special joy for my family to come to Washington DC, my wife's hometown, where we will be surrounded by close family and friends.' ADOBESTOCK/ HANNES MALLAUN choirandorgan.com SUMMER 2026 CHOIR & ORGAN 7

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NEWS & PREVIEWS

THREE CHOIRS FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2026 PROGRAMME

ADOBE STOCK

Gloucester Cathedral's refurbished organ is central to the 2026 programme

THE THREE CHOIRS FESTIVAL WILL return to Gloucester from 25 July to 1 August. This year's programme celebrates Elgar's enduring legacy, champions living composers and signals a landmark moment for Gloucester Cathedral's refurbished and renewed organ.

The organ, refurbished by Nicholson & Co, will be central to the 2026 Festival. At once the oldest and newest in the country, the instrument will take centre stage in Poulenc's Organ Concerto, Janáček's Glagolitic Mass, and features in the Celebrity Organ Recital by Thomas Ospital. A dedicated talk, "The Gloucester Organ: A New Era,' will explore the story behind this project.

In the 75th year of the Elgar Society, audiences can hear some of the composer's best-loved works, including his 1st Symphony, Sea Pictures, Cockaigne and The Dream of Gerontius. The programme also features a special lecture and the launch of a new book, "The Importance of Elgar, with essays by over 60 composers, conductors, performers, and commentators, including Gloucester Artistic

Director Adrian Partington and musicologist Christopher Morley. The Festival will also continue its commitment to living composers. Gloucester- born Gavin Higgins, the Festival's inaugural Associate Composer, will premiere a new setting of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, sung by the Three Cathedral Choirs and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Works by Cecilia McDowall, Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Judith Weir will also be featured. Large-scale choral-orchestral evening concerts will include Mozart's Requiem, Beethoven's Mass in C, Monteverdi's Vespers, and Rachmaninov's Vespers. These are performed by the Festival's own choirs - the combined Three Cathedral Choirs, Festival Chorus and Youth Choir - alongside visiting choirs and ensembles, La Serenissima and Ex Cathedra, Sydney's Philharmonia Choirs as well as resident orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra. Internationally celebrated artists including Roderick Williams, Ian Bostridge, Mark Padmore, Charles Owen, VOCES8, and APOLLO5 will appear in chamber recitals and late-night concerts. Choir & Organ is delighted to continue its media partnership with the festival.

Joshua Simões wins the 2026 Musicians' Company Award for Organists

The Musicians' Company Award for Organists has announced that their 2026 winner is Joshua Simões, who receives a £6,000 grant to develop his career.

A jury, comprised of Senior Warden Carl Jackson, David Titterington, David Hill and Catherine Dienes-Williams, selected Simões from seven shortlisted candidates who performed during a live audition for the panel.

Organist and Assistant Director of Music at His Majesty's Chapel Royal, Hampton Court, Simões graduated from the Royal Academy of Music where he won the coveted DipRAM, as a student of David Titterington and Bine Bryndorf.

Simões performs internationally as both a soloist and accompanist and his debut album on the Delphian label received a five star review from Choir & Organ and was an Editors' Choice in Gramophone Magazine.

GRAHAM LACDAO

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